Stephan Talty (born 1964) is an

Irish American Irish Americans () are Irish ethnics who live within in the United States, whether immigrants from Ireland or Americans with full or partial Irish ancestry. Irish immigration to the United States From the 17th century to the mid-19th c ...

journalist and author born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

to parents from

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

. He is famous for creating the character of Abbie Kearney, a fictional female detective who pursues

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

s in

. He also cowrote '' A Captain's Duty'', about the 2009 hijacking of a ship by Somali pirates.

Career

Talty attended Bishop Timon High School in Buffalo, New York and

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

in Massachusetts, before finding employment as a journalist with the ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...

''. During the 1990s, he went freelance in Dublin and New York, and contributed articles for the ''New York Times Magazine'', ''GQ'', ''Playboy'', the ''Irish Times'', and the ''Chicago Review''. In addition to writing

detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal investigation, investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around ...

, Talty has written several nonfiction books on crime and American history. He cowrote the book that was the basis for '' Captain Phillips'', and wrote ''The Black Hand'', a novelization about the killing of

Italian American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

cop Joe Petrosino in 1909. In 2013, the movie ''Captain Phillips'' was released in the US, directed by Paul Greengrass and starring

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

and Barkhad Abdi. The screenplay by Billy Ray was based on the 2010 book ''A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea'' by Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty as co-writer. In 2017,

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

announced that it had acquired the movie rights to Talty's upcoming novel ''The Black Hand''.

Leonardo DiCaprio Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio (; ; born November 11, 1974) is an American actor and film producer. Known for Leonardo DiCaprio filmography, his work in biographical and period films, he is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received ...

would star as Joe Petrosino, and the film was due for release in 2018.

Works

*''Mulatto America: At the Crossroads of Black and White Culture: A Social History'' (2004) *''Empire of Blue Water - Captain Morgan’s Great Pirate Army'' (2008) *''The Illustrious Dead: The Terrifying Story of How Typhus Killed Napoleon's Greatest Army'' (2009) *'' A Captain's Duty'' (2010), with captain Richard Phillips * ''Escape from the Land of Snows: The Young Dalai Lama's Harrowing Flight to Freedom and the Making of a Spiritual Hero'' (2010) * ''Agent Garbo'' (2012) *''Black Irish: A Novel'' (2013) *''Hangman: A Novel'' (2014) *''Operation Cowboy: The Secret American Mission to Save the World’s Most Beautiful Horses in the Last Days of World War II'' (2014) *''The Secret Agent: In Search of America's Greatest World War II Spy'' (2014) *''War Hero: The Unlikely Story of A Stray Dog, An American Soldier and the Battle of Their Lives'' (2015) * ''The Black Hand'' (2017) ( a novel about the crime organization) *''Speed Girl: Janet Guthrie and the Race That Changed Sports Forever'' (2017) *''Saving Bravo: The Greatest Rescue Mission in Navy SEAL History'' (2018) * ''Koresh: The True Story of David Koresh and the Tragedy at Waco'' (2023)

Filmography

* '' Captain Phillips'' (2013) * ''The Black Hand'' (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talty, Stephan Living people American people of Irish descent American crime writers 1960 births